Grooming gang inquiry must be extended to Scotland, Scottish Tories say

The Scottish Conservatives have urged the UK Government to extend its inquiry into grooming gangs to Scotland.

Home secretary Yvette Cooper announced the probe on Monday as a report on the scale and nature of child sexual abuse in England and Wales was published.

The report, put together by Baroness Louise Casey, concluded the ethnicity of people involved in grooming gangs had been “shied away from”, with ethnicity only recorded for around a third of perpetrators.

Cooper confirmed the government would action the report’s 12 recommendations, including the launching of a national inquiry to coordinate local investigations into abuse.

The UK Government has previously dismissed calls for such a probe given the seven-year inquiry into sex abuse led by Professor Alexis Jay.

But making the announcement in the Commons on Monday, Cooper said: “We have begun implementing the recommendations from past inquiries, including Professor Jay’s independent inquiry, and we have said that further inquiries are needed to get accountability in local areas… [Casey’s] report concludes that further local investigations are needed, but they should be directed and overseen by a national commission with statutory inquiry powers. We agree, and we will set up a national inquiry to that effect.”

Now shadow Scottish secretary Andrew Bowie has written to the home secretary, warning that not extending that remit of that inquiry north of the border “risks creating a two-tier system of justice”.

Bowie said there were “well-documented cases” cases of sexual exploitation by gangs in Scotland, adding: “Victims of grooming gangs in Scotland must not and cannot be overlooked… This is a national crisis that demands a national response. Victims in Scotland deserve the same recognition, and opportunity for justice.”

He said the two governments must work together to either ensure relevant Scottish cases are covered by the inquiry or to establish a “parallel inquiry with equivalent powers”.

Other recommendations in the Casey report include ensuring those who have sex with children under the age of 16 “face the most serious charge of rape”; making collection of ethnicity and nationality data for suspects mandatory; and commissioning research into group-based child sexual exploitation.

Scottish Labour MP Joani Reid said lessons must be learned “for the whole UK”.

She called for engagement with the Scottish Government on the implementation of the recommendations in the Jay report, adding: “Scotland’s victims and survivors deserve the same assurances on accountability and robust safeguarding measures as anywhere else in the UK.”

Asked for a response to the inquiry yesterday, First Minister John Swinney said the ongoing Scottish child abuse inquiry had “extensive scope and ability to explore many or all of these issues”.

But he added: “There will be other processes of inquiry that are undertaken when that’s appropriate. I would give every consideration to an issue of this type if I felt it was necessary to be undertaken – and obviously we will do that in the fullness of time.”